The Breath of Stress-Free Introduction: Living: Dum Spiro Spero! - PDF document

5/30/2015 The Breath of Stress-Free Introduction: Living: “Dum Spiro Spero!” “While I Breathe I Hope!” Professional & Personal Self-Care - Cicero ● David White: The Antidote to Exhaustion Peter Cote, LISW Whitney Schipper, MSW Brittney Miller, MSW UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA Professional Ethics of Self-Care Blaming the Victim: “Sometimes it’s a macro issue Peter.” ● An appeal to enlightened administrators everywhere 1

5/30/2015 Mindfulness Positive Examples of Enlightened Administrators According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is "paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.” •Breaks “Mindfulness is our complete, spacious, attentive awareness of everything in the present moment. To •Open communication lines live in mindfulness means not to be pulled away by memories of the past or anticipation of the future. •List of warning signs and “caution lights” Mindful living engages us completely in this moment. We learn to be present to our fears, anxieties, worries or sorrows without being overwhelmed by them. It allows us to live free of judgement, and to •Limits on overtime make everything in our daily lives sacred and full of meaning, even things as simple as washing the dishes or turning on an electric light.” -Andrew Weiss •Monitor PTO/Vacation •Wellness programs You Tube: Mindfulness 60 Minutes •Debriefings Empirically-Based Research Compassion Model (ProQOL) ● Mental health professionals tend to preach wellness to their clients but don’t practice it themselves ● A 2010 study found that 75.5% of mental health professionals conveyed that they believe that the impairment of fellow colleagues is a threat to the profession o 63.5% claimed that they knew a colleague they considered to be impaired (Puig, Baggs, Mixon, Park, Kim & Lee, 2012) ● A similar study from 2011 concluded that, if left untreated, compassion fatigue can lead to depression and other stress-related illnesses (Slocum-Gori, Hemsworth, Chan, Carson & Kazanjian, 2011) ● A more recent study from 2014 found an inverse correlation between mindfulness and compassion fatigue. o More mindfulness = less compassion fatigue (Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2014) 2

5/30/2015 5 A’s of Mindfulness as Practical The Mindfulness Skill: Awareness Coping Skills Definition: ○ To know the existence of something; cognizant. 1. Awareness ○ Awareness is like a container for all experiences. All senses, thoughts, emotions, hopes 2. Attention and desires, dreams and fears are held within awareness. You are able to live with greater equanimity and therefore peace, because the rise and fall of thoughts and emotions are 3. Acceptance just seen as little events in the vast container that is awareness (Alidina, 2015). 4. Anticipation Example: 5. Action ○ “Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all. What is happening? What do you feel? What do you see? What do you hear?” -Jon Kabat-Zinn “Become like an open hand, cling to nothing, push nothing away, give Activity: what is needed.” ○ Opening Awareness Meditation - (Alidina, 2015) Opening Awareness Meditation The Mindfulness Skill: Attention Shamash Alidina: Definition: o To focus perception. According to Dr. Sood, “Intentional trained attention is directed by your will. This trained attention pulls you o www.guilford.com/alidina-materials away from distractions to savor a more wholesome morsel of life. Trained attention doesn’t deny or repress reality. It gives you temporary freedom from negativity. You stop carrying the entire load of the past and the future in your head. trained attention is focused, relaxed, compassionate, nonjudgmental, sustained, deep, and intentional.” (2013) Example: o Shift attention from working on one activity to another. When a person is working on case notes for one client and they need to start working on a treatment plan for another client, they shift their attention and focus to another activity. Activity: o Walking meditation 3

5/30/2015 The Mindfulness Skill: Acceptance The Mindfulness Skill: Anticipation Definition: Definition: ○ The person with a well- differentiated “self” recognizes his realistic dependence on others, o Open to the reality of something, not approval or disapproval or passive acquiescence. but he can stay calm and clear-headed enough in the face of conflict, criticism, and “Acceptance of the present moment has nothing to do with resignation in the face of what is happening. o rejection to distinguish thinking rooted in a careful assessment of the facts from thinking It simply means a clear acknowledgment that what is happening is happening” (Kabat -Zinn, 1994). clouded by emotionality. Thoughtfully acquired principles help guide decision-making about important family and social issues, making him less at the mercy of the feelings of Example: the moment. What he decides and what he says matches what he does. o Accepting that your client has done what he can in your session today. Acceptance doesn’t tell you what to do, but rather increases your understanding of the moment. What happens next, what you Example: choose to do, has to come from your understanding of the moment (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). ○ Practice crafting non- anxious, calm, clear “I positions” Activity: Activity: o “This Is It” Mindfulness (Kabat -Zinn, 1994). ○ “ Anticipation as a Planful Path” (Kabat -Zinn, 1994). The Mindfulness Skill: Anticipation The Mindfulness Skill: Anticipation Managing the Five Styles of Anxiety “We are not our thoughts.” ● Over-Functioning ● Under-Functioning ● Distancing ● Pursuing ● Blaming - Eckhart Tolle 4

5/30/2015 The Mindfulness Skill: Action Wrap Up ● Sitting meditation is the 21st century’s way of exercising the brain Definition: ○ One-pointedness of mind. Focus. Doing. Perception in keeping with o Not philosophy, not new-age fluff values and acting directly. o Brain science “One practical way to do this is to look at other people and ask yourself if you are really seeing them ● Question is not “To be or not to be?” We have no choice but to be and be or just your thoughts about them.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn our best. These 5 coping skills provide a succinct framework in which we respond to challenges of our profession. Example: o Performing an activity while o keeping attention and awareness on the task at hand and your own thoughts regarding the task. Activity: o Mindful exercise Mindfulness Resources Mindfulness Resources Barbara Clark’s Beyond Affirmations The Mindful Way Through Stress: The Proven 8-Week Path to Health, Meditations Google App Happiness, and Well-Being -Shamash Alidina ● Introduction ● ● Support Your Pregnancy & How Mindfulness Helps with Stress ● Relaxation and well-being Your Changing Pregnant ● Discovering Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction ● Self Love (Part 1 & 2) Body ● Getting the Most Out of Mindfulness-Based Stress ● Soothe your skin ● Support Your Stomach ● Heal Your Relationship With Money Reduction ● Support Your Knees ● Heal Your Relationship With Food ● Eight Weeks of Mindfulness ● Headaches And Migraines ● Support Your Heart ● Deepening Your Awareness ● Support Your Ankles ● Support Your Lower, Middle, and ● Mindful Stretching and Yoga ● Support Your Neck Upper Back ● Support Your Hips ● Stress and Anxiety ● Release Grief & Trauma ● Support Your Pregnancy & Your Changing Pregnant Body 5

5/30/2015 Mindfulness Resources Mindfulness Resources The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living Beginning Mindfulness: Learning the Way of Awareness -Amit Sood -Andrew Weiss ● The Brain and the Mind ● ● Attention Training Beginning Mindfulness ● ● Refining Interpretations Four Foundations of Mindfulness ● Gratitude o A ten-week course ● ● Compassion Widening of the Heart ● ● Acceptance Going On ● Higher Meaning ● Forgiveness ● Tribe ● Relaxation and Reflection Mindfulness Resources Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life -Jon Kabat-Zinn ● The Bloom of the Present Moment ● The Heart of Practice ● In the Spirit of Mindfulness Questions? 6